NBA Who are your top 10 players all time in each position?

IMO:

Point Guards:
1. Magic Johnson
2. Stephen Curry
3. Oscar Robertson
4. John Stockton
5. Isiah Thomas
6. Chris Paul
7. Steve Nash
8. Russell Westbrook
9. Jason Kidd
10. Bob Cousy

HM: Gary Payton, Tony Parker, Walt Frazier, Chauncey Billups, and Derrick Rose

Shooting Guards:
1. Michael Jordan
2. Kobe Bryant
3. Dwayne Wade
4. Jerry West
5. James Harden
6. Allen Iverson
7. George Gervin
8. Clyde Drexler
9. Tracy McGrady
10. Ray Allen

HM: Manu Ginobili, Klay Thompson, Pete Maravich, Joe Dumars, and Reggie Miller

Small Forwards:
1. LeBron James
2. Larry Bird
3. Kevin Durant
4. Julius Erving
5. Kawhi Leonard
6. Scottie Pippen
7. John Havlicek
8. Rick Barry
9. Elgin Baylor
10. James Worthy

HM: Grant Hill, Dominique Wilkins, Paul Pierce, Alex English, Adrian Dantley and Carmelo Anthony

Power Forwards:
1. Tim Duncan
2. Dirk Nowitzki
3. Karl Malone
4. Kevin Garnett
5. Charles Barkley
6. Kevin McHale
7. Elvin Hayes
8. Dennis Rodman
9. Bob Pettit
10. Anthony Davis

HM: Pau Gasol, Dolph Schayes, Chris Webber, and Jerry Lucas

Centers:
1. Kareem Abdul Jabbar
2. Wilt Chamberlain
3. Shaquille O'Neal
4. Hakeem Olajuwon
5. Bill Russell
6. Moses Malone
7. David Robinson
8. Patrick Ewing
9. Willis Reed
10. George Mikan

HM: Dikembe Mutumbo, Wes Unseld, Dave Cowens, Bob McAdoo, and Dwight Howard (LOL at this dude all you want, but there’s no denying he was a beast in his hey-day)

 

Don't have time to do a top 10 of all positions right now but I'll do All-time NBA 1st, 2nd and 3rd team.

1st team
Oscar
MJ
Lebron
Duncan
Kareem

2nd Team
Magic
Jerry West
Bird
Garnett
Wilt

3rd Team
Curry
Kobe
Dr. J
Dirk
Shaq

 

9x All-Star. 9x All-NBA. 9x All-Defensive Team

I would think Gary Payton has to be among the top 10 point guards of all-time


Joe Dumars has a career PER of 15.3

As I successfully argued with a friend just the other day, Mitch Richmond was better than Dumars


I would think Grant Hill is easily among the top 10 small forwards of all-time

The fact that you don't even have him listed as an honourable mention is really quite baffling


Kevin Garnett was better than everyone you have listed ahead of him

And Webber, Brand, Bosh, Jermaine O'Neal, Stoudemire and Gasol were all better than Rodman


Bill Russell averaged 15 points per game on 44% shooting for his career, and his best PER season was 20.7

David Robinson lead the league in PER 3x peaking at 30.7

 

GP was a beast but in order to put him in the top 10, someone would have to be dislodged and given who's in the top 10, it's hard to decide who.

Tough one to call with the Dumars/Richmond one

Totally forgot about G-Hill, I'll add him onto the HM list but injuries sadly stopped him from being a top 10 SF.

You can make an argument between KG, Dirk and Malone, but he has no argument over Duncan imo. He may have been more explosive at his peak but in terms of "greatness," Tim has more rings, MVPs, FMVPs, All-NBA Selections, All-NBA Defensive Selections, and was a better playoff performer.

C-Webb and Rodman are two completely different types of players so it's hard to say who's better but in terms of career achievements, Dennis has C-Webb beat imo. Webber was a 5x All-Star, 5x All NBA Selection (1 First Team), Rookie of the Year and 1x Rebounding Leader, which is an impressive resume but I think Dennis has a more impressive ledger as he's a 5x champion, 2x DPOY, 2x All-NBA Selection, 8x All-Defensive Selection (7 First Teams), 3x All Star, and 7x Rebounding Leader

Russell's a hard player to rank but it just doesn't feel right to not include him the top 5 centres all time given what he's accomplished.[/QUOTE]

 

Payton was better than Kidd


It's not tough at all. The numbers clearly show that Richmond was better than Dumars


How is it injuries stopped Hill from being a top 10 SF, but injuries didn't stop McGrady from being a top 10 SG?


And I'm pretty sure just about every advanced statistic shows that during their prime seasons, Garnett was better than Duncan

 

bob pettit was also better and i think i'd have him right behind barkley.

Russell had quite possibly the GOAT defensive impact.

good post btw.

 

Take Steve Nash off and replace with GP. I’d take most of your HM’s over him, too. Nash is massively overrated.

KG > Dirk, Malone

Also think Shaq is overrated. Hakeem above him and maybe Russell.

Someone already pointed out the G Hill omission.

Rest seems fair although I cringe seeing James Harden on an all time list but 2 guard is the weakest after the top few.

 

And you don't think David Robinson would've had the same defensive impact had he played in the 50's and 60's?

 

maybe but i like to compare/rank player based on what they did against their peers when they played. the admiral had the physical tools but how about the midset/IQ to revolutionize how big men played defense and go against the conventional wisdom and pave the way for future generations?

 

And I rank players based on which one I would rather build a team around, so we'll just have to agree to disagree

 

Not a fan of harden’s either but at this point I can’t even deny that he’s a top 5 SG all time and he’s probably gonna end up even higher as he’s not even 30 yet

 

Teams with Steve Nash on them had the best offense in the NBA 9 years in a row. Spanning two teams and 4 coaches. He is very underrated and one of the very best offensive players of all time.

 

OP,


James Worthy - who retired at 32 years old - has no business being among the top 10 small forwards of all-time

He owns a career PER of 17.7, and his absolute best PER season is only 20.4


At 32, Grant Hill's career PER was 21.9, with a peak season of 25.5


Paul Pierce should also be ranked ahead of Worthy

At 32, Pierce had a career PER of 20.8, with a peak season of 23.6


In fact, I think I'd take everyone on your honourable mention list ahead of Worthy

Simply put, James isn't worthy of being in the top 10

(see what I did there?)

 

I agree with much of this, but using PER brings nothing to the conversation. It's worthless.

 

Pretty good list, I largely agree outside of one glaring omission. Dominique is a top 5 all time SF or at the very least, should easily be on that top 10 list. After the top 4, an argument could be made for about 3-4 guys to be #5 and Wilkins is definitely on that list.

I've always found him to be one of the most underrated superstars of all time mainly because people know him for his dunks and forget how great he was at a lot of other things.

Also, I'm a Pistons fanboy so I'd switch Stockton and Isiah but I can see an argument for Stockton too.

 

Yeah, no denying his scoring greatness.. he’s just such an enigma. Feels odd putting him on an all time great list.

Yeah, he had a nice little run.. but I’d still take Payton, Kidd, Westbrook, Billups, and pre injuries Derrick Rose and Penny Hardaway over him any day. Could probably even come up with a few more if I thought about it.

Nash was an excellent system PG and got the absolute most out of his ability. Full credit to him, I just don’t see him in that top tier.

 

Steve Nash is the best passer ever, arguably the most accurate shooter ever and had incredible fundamental moves that allowed him to create space and finish at the rim effectively despite having limited athletic ability. Many of these techniques are used as the basis of players development to this day.

You are probably the only person to ever take Billups over Steve Nash. Congrats.

 

I disagree with the first part but agree he had excellent fundamentals. I’m not knocking him, just saying there’s a lot of guys I’d pick before him.

Billups over Nash might be a bit of a stretch but I think Nash gets torched if they play to 11.

 

And Shaq would probably beat any player ever one-on-one. This means absolutely nothing.

 

Lets not forget Russell played with an average of 7 Hall of Famers every season (some seasons it was more).

Also, 0 chance Harden is above AI, and I'd consider putting West ahead of Wade.

 

Shaq would get killed by a lot of wings but that’s besides the point.

1-on-1 doesn’t prove anything but it’s definitely a factor in my decision when weighing two PGs against each other. Ability to score on your man and defend the ball are pretty important at that position.

 

harden is better scorer than al, both in volume and efficiency. al doesn't have much longevity edge and harden beats him easily in prime and peak.

 

PG defense is the least important of all positions imo. they need to avoid bad blow-bys but in general PG defense doesn't have same impact as wingers and not even close to bigs.

 

I'm a big Pistons fan and Billups belongs nowhere near that list. He sticks out like a sore thumb among those other names.
Nash was an MVP level player for about 2-3 years. Even with the defensive deficiencies, he should be on every top 10 PG list IMO.

 

Agreed. Neil Johnston is not the 10th best player ever. I'll list my top 27 but after #2 Kareem they're unranked.

Wrigley's Oldheads:
1. Jordan,
2.Kareem,
Shaq, LeBron, Admiral, Wilt, Duncan, Magic, Russell, Bird, Hakeem, Oscar, Kobe, West, Dr J, Pippen, Wade, Garnett, Mailman, Stockton, Dirk, Durant, Baylor, Barkley, Curry, Frazier, Payton



Hall of Fame
7x All Star
2x NBA Champ
6x All-NBA
7x All-Defensive
1967-68 All-Rookie
1974-75 AS MVP